30 books that are useful for any designer to read

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The life hacker asked professional designers to talk about books that will help anyone to improve their knowledge and skills in this area.

1. "Objects of Desire" by Adrian Forti

Published abroad in the late 80s, this book reached Russia only in 2010. In my opinion, this is the most accurate description of the design profession, its origins, goals and tools.

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2. Understanding the Comic by Scott McCloud

The book is about a comic, but in fact, it is much broader - it is a kind of ready-made textbook on visual communication in the broadest sense of the word. It was published, which is remarkable, in the form of a comic book (therefore I recommend the English version, although there is also a translated version).

3. All books by Vladimir Krichevsky, but especially "The Poetics of Reproduction"

Krichevsky is an excellent vaccine against designer snobbery and blinkeredness. The sooner you get it, the less chances you have to ossify professionally after 30-40 years.

4. "Laws of Simplicity" by John Maeda

How to do it simply, but not boring or poor.

5. "History of Art", Gombrich Ernst

The book has gone through an incredible number of reprints and is considered by many to be the best work on the topic. The topic, in my opinion, is necessary for any designer: knowledge of history helps to predict the future. I advise, of course, to read the English version (the quality of the Russian edition leaves much to be desired).

6. "Modern Type", Villa Toots

Nowadays it is fashionable to talk about typography and repeat the names of Ruder, Tschichold and Bringhurst as a mantra. But I would like to recommend a slightly different edition: "Contemporary Type" by Villa Tootsa.

Published in the USSR, the book (as far as I remember) has not been reprinted since then, but you can easily find its electronic version (or buy it from second-hand booksellers). In my opinion, the most intelligible work about the history and origin of letters as such, a necessary basis for further study of what can be done with them.

Sergey Slutsky Founder and creative director of the Metaforma presentation studio.

1. "Selling packaging", Lars Vallentin

Good packaging is inseparable from the product; it adds value. Despite the fact that the book deals with the design of food packaging, the principles are universal and easily translate into any form.

2. Slide: ology, Nancy Duarte

A presentation is not just a bunch of PowerPoint slides, but a visual story that helps you achieve your goals. Instead of producing meaningless slides and data, turn your presentations into a tool for getting your message across to your audience.

3. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Cleon

What's the difference between stealing and seeking inspiration? Your own journey begins with collecting ideas - do not reject other people's influence and form your own unique style.

4. "You can paint in 30 days", Mark Kistler

Drawing faster than words helps explain your ideas to others. Many people are afraid to pick up a pencil - this book will provide tools and techniques that will eliminate fears, reveal the artist in you and help you enjoy the process.

5. Visual Thinking by Dan Roham

The book will teach you how to simply visualize business situations and use visual thinking in everyday life. Draw pictures and solve problems.

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6. Understanding the Comic by Scott McCloud

Despite the fact that the comic is a collection of static pictures, it is filled with life and dynamics. Ideas and principles that are used in cinema, animation, web development, and interface design are hidden in the minimalistic drawing and even between the frames on the page.

Paprika Xu Designer - online graphic designer and photo editor.

1. “Good strategy, bad strategy. What is the difference and why is it important”, Richard Rumelt

At the heart of any good strategy is a look into the depth of the situation, its hidden potential, and the appropriate approach to it. Rumelt shows how this view can be shaped with a variety of tools to guide thinking in the right direction.

2. Think Slow … Decide Fast, Daniel Kahneman

The book offers practical and really useful insights into the process of making choices in both business and personal life, and what techniques we can use to insulate ourselves from the mental failures that often lead to problems.

3. “Corporation of Geniuses. How to manage a team of creative people ", Ed Catmell, Amy Wallace

Written by the founder of Pixar, this book is about leadership and creating an environment conducive to creativity and storytelling. Particularly strong in it is the part devoted to criticism and the ratio of the contribution of teamwork and individual voices in the team.

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4. "The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman

The “Design of Everyday Things” shows that good and practical design is possible. The rules are simple: make elements visible, use natural balance of functionality and control, and intelligently apply constraints that arise. The goal is to smoothly lead the user to the desired action in the way you need at the right time. This book is a powerful source of valuable insight into how and why customers like some products and annoy others.

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Pavel Gorshkov Design Director of Redmadrobot. Profile in.

Since my field of activity is related to UX, I will share books that will be useful for interface designers. And I'll start with heavy artillery.

1. "Interface: New Directions in Computer Systems Design", Jeff Raskin

A monumental work on what an interface is in general. It was written quite a long time ago, but, revealing the basics, it does not lose its relevance.

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2. "Mental Hospital in the Hands of Patients", Alan Cooper

A somewhat boring but useful reflection on the reasons why the interfaces around us are far from ideal. Despite the fact that quite a lot of time has passed since the moment of writing (by the standards of a rapidly developing industry) and some examples are already outdated, it is still relevant.

3. "About the interface" by Alan Cooper

The real designer's Bible is everything a professional needs to know about the process and principles of interface design. Prepare a place on the shelf for the book, as you will most likely return to it from time to time.

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4. "A good interface is an invisible interface", Golden Krishna

Unlike the examples above, it is easy to read, being an extended article rather than a textbook. First of all, it will be useful for designers who already have experience in mobile design, as an inoculation against the delusion that a mobile application is the answer to all questions.

Design team MYTH Publishing house MYTH books for personal and professional growth, business development and happy childhood.

1. “Scrum. A Revolutionary Project Management Method ", Jeff Sutherland

A book about teamwork between specialists of different professions. On a project, we lose most of the time when transferring information to each other: technical assignment - to the designer, layout - to the programmer, code - to the tester … An ideal team does not transfer or lose anything - it works synchronously. This book tells how to start making up a layout that the designer has not yet completed.

2. Magic Ink, Bret Victor

A former Apple employee on Jobs' team talks about the basics of interface design. According to the author, an interface is not evil if it helps in solving three fundamental problems: learning, communication and self-expression. Bret Victor is a big fan of Edward Tufty. He translated the principles of the great flatland guru into the world of interactive design.

3. Design Thinking in Business by Tim Brown

The most underrated book on design and creative thinking in Russian. Not a guide, but rather a manifesto that design should not be done from the general to the particular (as well as from the particular to the general) - the designer constantly jumps between these two levels, wanting to see both individual details and the whole picture at the same time.

That is why it is so important to continue to work with your hands, and not strive to solve only strategic tasks in the company. That is why you need to think not only about metrics, but also about the life scenarios of very specific people, to be an ethnographer of your product.

4. "Art and Visual Perception", Rudolf Arnheim

Translated back in the Soviet Union, this book describes the work of our eyes using the example of works of art. The main idea that the author is trying to convey is that our vision does a lot without our demand.

Often a person receives from the senses not information for making a decision, but a ready-made answer. How can you argue that the user wants to solve some problem or benefit if he himself is not always aware of what he sees and what he wants to do? Essential author for designers of all specialties.

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5. Designing Interaction, Bill Moggridge

Founder of IDEO, designer of the first ever laptop (GRiD, 1982) and the person who came up with the concept of interaction design. His collection of articles is the best excursion into the history of interfaces. In Moggridge's book, you will find interviews with those who have not written textbooks, but who would very much like to listen to: Bill Atkinson (Macintosh), Larry Tesler (Xerox PARC), Doug Engelbart (mouse creator), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) and a lot others.

6. The Elements of Typographic Style, Robert Bringhurst

A perfectly designed book on how to design books. Graceful proportions and margins, bound, printed on archival quality paper. You just hold it in your hands and you understand what a well-designed book in the classic style should be like. Rather a general overview than a textbook - here is about layout, and about fonts, and about formats. But useful practical things can also be learned.

7. Design: Form and Chaos by Paul Rand

The most useful thing that you can read about graphic design. You can get at least some understanding of what an image is, a form, and why it is needed. And all this is based on examples of the work of Paul Rand.

8. Electronic textbook "Typography and layout", Artyom Gorbunov

I think the best layout tutorial for beginners and beyond. Artyom tells and shows how to put together a strong and expressive layout according to clear rules. Will not teach you how to make brutalism or postmodern stuffing. But it will teach anyone how to do it neatly, readable and expressively. It will be useful both for those who do something in print and for interactive guys.

9. "The language of things", Dejan Sudzic

About the meaning of design and its influence on the culture of perception of the world of things around us.

10. "Black Square", Kazimir Malevich

About how to think of culture, art, science and nature in an indissoluble unity.

11. Design and Crime by Hal Foster

About design as politics, economics, marketing, as well as a critical tool of thinking.